The importance of research ethics |
Adherence to ethical standards as part of research is important for a number of reasons:
- Applying norms advances the goals of research – including knowledge and truth – and assists in avoiding errors. Where the creation, manipulation, or misrepresentation of research data is disallowed, truth and accuracy are promoted and errors are kept to a minimum.
- Many people must work together and coordinate their activities to make research happen and this is made all the more challenging by the fact that they often have very different backgrounds in terms of the disciplines they work in and the organisations they are attached to. Applying common ethical standards, therefore, allows values such as trust, accountability, respect and fairness to be fostered within this milieu. The ethical norms applied to research are intended to protect intellectual property rights as those involved collaborate and cooperate. Such norms may include those that apply to the sharing of data, authorship guidelines, patent and copyright, and matters of confidentiality around peer review. This goes some way towards ensuring that researchers are accorded due credit for their work and that their ideas are not claimed by others or made public without authorisation.
- The ethical norms in place exist largely to ensure accountability on the part of researchers. Laws and policies must be put in place (and enforced) concerning research misconduct and the declaration of any conflicts of interest. The issue of accountability also arises in the case of researchers who rely on public funding. To this end, both human and animal research subjects must enjoy certain protections when they are part of the research process.
- Public support for research is also buoyed by ethical norms being in place. Funding for a research project is more likely to be forthcoming if the quality and integrity of the research can be shown to be unimpeachable.
- At large, the established research norms are aligned with key moral and social values. These include research being socially responsible, recognising human and animal rights and welfare, remaining in line with the law, and promoting public health and safety. Where research falls foul of ethical norms, harm may come to subjects, human or animal, as well as to students and the public. Should data for a medical trial be fabricated, for example, this could lead to patients being harmed or dying. Non-adherence to safety protocols and regulations by a researcher could well harm that researcher’s health and safety, as well as the health and safety of his or her colleagues.